rise of the drabbles
by year-of-the-pineapple
Summary: A collection of oneshots I had saved on my computer; bits and bobs for a rainy day.
1. water

**The first in a collection of oneshots and short bits 'n' bobs for rainy days.**

 **Please don't take any of these as indications of writing ability!**

* * *

Maka looks around at her motley crew of friends, gathered round by the pool. On the outside, full of smiles and laughs.

Black Star; shouting some crap about how he's going to do the most fantastic and awe-inspiring dive into the pool, and blow all their stupid attempts out the water. Maybe literally. Maka eyes up his arms, his chest. He's bulked out significantly since they were just 13, but his mind doesn't seem to have matured at the same rate that his body has. Now 18 and the second youngest of the group, his voice only seems maybe one, maybe two keys lower than it was 5 years ago.

He seems full of life but he's obviously faking it. His eyes constantly flit over to Tsubaki, as if checking she's still there; she's still safe.

Look hard enough and you'll see it.

And Tsubaki, the great beauty, her long Japanese hair tied up in a bun with those traditional sticks- Maka forgets what they're called- and a pretty glaring white bikini which shows off her porcelain skin and gorgeous figure.

Her eyes have crinkles at the edges where she's smiling adoringly, as usual, at her partner in crime. She's the only one who could love Black*Star, Maka thinks to herself. The worlds biggest tragic irony that he wasn't emotionally capable of loving her back in the same way.

Look a little more carefully and you can see the marks on her wrists and ankles which distinctly form the shapes of chains. Her last mission with Black*Star ended with her being shackled and tortured.

Liz and Patty splash around in the pool causing a scene together, while Kid stretches out on the sun lounger and appears to try to catch a tan. The two sisters look beautiful as always, Liz tall and perky in a red one-piece. Patty is curvy and voluptuous in a purple bikini. Maka stares and notices how Liz and Patty are standing closely to each other, more so than usual. And they're even going easy on each other with the splashing- clearly, they're still a little shaken by their last mission. And then Kid's wearing a cap, trying to cover the newly instated lines on his head. He's not ready to accept what they represent.

The Death of Death himself and the extension of his _all_ his rights and responsibilities to his only-yet-20-year-old son.

"People-watching?" Soul catches her out.

She jumps, and then sighs, and wanders over next to him. He's not in the pool and hasn't been since they got here. Instead he's sitting to the side of the pool reading, with a long-sleeve t-shirt on.

"It's my favorite pastime." She smiles lightly. "And my greatest weakness. I'm a snoop." She grins at him, her face crinkling up endearingly.

"Hah! You wish." Soul chuckles. "Why so serious?" he wonders, closing his book slightly and lifting his gaze "Or did you forget I can basically read your mood," he smirks as he references their soul bond.

Soul's gotten good at hiding his wavelength from Maka lately; a skill that she still doesn't possess. They've been in a lot of extra classes with Stein recently, trying to learn the skill of separating their waves. Sometimes carrying the emotional burden of two just seemed too much to handle.

"How could I forget?" she shrugs. "Everyone seems to be just… faking it. Like our last mission didn't affect them all. I don't really get it."

"Isn't that what we _always_ do?"

"I guess. But… everything we just went through. We're growing up, and it's getting more serious. More life-or-death. I guess I just feel like we're a hair's breadth away from everyone just having a breakdown." Maka sighs heavily. "I'm worried about them all." She motions vaguely to her group of friends.

"No point worrying." Soul's gaze and attention slides back to his book on his lap. Maka peeks over to see what he's reading and sees a bunch of words in French.

"What the hell…?"

"The author is Quebecois," he says softly. Maka pokes him in the head.

"Sometimes I forget you're secretly as nerdy as me."

"I just had years of private French tutoring. My family were rich. It doesn't make me nerdy." He hits back, a little defensively. "Besides, I have _nothing_ to do except catch up on my language skills." He adds, injecting a hint of misery into his tone.

"You could _try_ getting in the pool." She suggests, but she receives such an angry look that she immediately drops this idea. "Can I at least see how it's doing? I think it's time to put some cream on. Let me help you,"

He bristles.

"If we go inside."

"Honestly, Soul, they're your _friends_ , they don't _care_ -"

"Inside." He says again, firmly. He shuts his book with a crack and glares at her.

She rolls her eyes and drags him inside the house. Kid shoots them both a look from under his cap but Maka just gives him a thumbs-up. Kid nods, understanding.

"Whew! It's a lot cooler in here," she comments. "Kid's taste in art sure is weird," she laughs, staring down a sculpture of an ivory naked woman with a dragon head.

"Philistine." Soul rolls his eyes. "C'mon then, let's get this over with." He reaches to the hem of his shirt and pulls it over his head.

Maka's eyes stay peeled. Soul's another one who's definitely hit puberty like a truck going at 50mph. Though not as beefy as Black*Star, he has definite muscle tone carved over his thin frame. Wisps of white hairs on his chest cause her to blush a little.

And there's the burn marks which carve out his back in an intricate, excruciating design- extending from each elbow to halfway up his neck and a little past his waistline. As Stein told the both of them at the hospital last month- some scars never _did_ heal.

It's scabbed over now, thank God.

His expression is cold and lifeless as he feels her eyes prick needles all over him.

"I look like a chicken nugget." He tells her flippantly. She accidentally snorts at that frank comparison, and then shoots him an apologetic look at her outburst.

"You look like a _burn victim_." She says matter-of-factly, squeezing a dollop of special cream onto her finger and beginning to rub it in gently. It obviously hurts but he tries his best not to react. "You can complain, y'know. Your pride will be the death of you."

Still, she knows he doesn't like to.

She finishes applying the cream with a 'voila' and stands back to admire her work. He steps in front of the full length mirror in the hallway and sinks.

"I can't stand looking like this." He touches some of his burnt-up skin with a scowl. "Like I belong in a Frankenstein comic."

Maka doesn't respond straightaway- just purses her lips.

"You don't-"

"I don't? Really? This stupid albino hair, these stupid teeth. The scar, the scrapes, and now this huge burn mark." He lists, sounding dejected. "I'm just getting worse and worse. I'm only twenty, Maka. Imagine how much of a freak I'll be when I'm 50."

She doesn't like this, when he bemoans the way he looks. Despite being quite unusually good-looking, it was a slightly sensitive topic these days.

"If you're such a freak, then why do half the girls at school want to jump your bones?" she raises an eyebrow.

"They, unlike _you_ , have never seen me topless." He cuts back.

"I think it would only increase your fanbase if they had." Maka tries to make light of the situation, with a little chuckle and a tease at his expense. "C'mon, Soul," she appeals to him. "Let's not-"

"Those stupid girls just want to _save_ me." He growls, joking but a little bitterly.

He looks in the mirror again and against her better judgement, she finds herself standing close up next to him. "If we weren't partners, you'd be freaked out by me." He states bluntly, staring at her reflection in the mirror.

"If we weren't partners, I'd probably want to date you." She retorts, stubbornly not moving from her position.

Soul finally breaks into a chuckle.

"Shut up." He shakes his head, effectively ending the discussion. "C'mon, I've deprived you of enough sun. Let's go back out."

"Only if you stop moping!"


	2. baskets

"THROW THE GODDAMN BALL!" Black*Star's aggravated cry is a few tones higher than usual, letting slip the sorry fact that even at the tender old age of 19, his voice still hadn't dropped completely, if ever. "Or pass, or something, you… _ball hog_!"

Soul blows air out his nose in wry amusement, his hand bobbing up and down, pushing the basketball down when it comes back up; tossing it between his left and right hands, as the combined forces of Liz and Patty on wing defence flail their arms around and partake in other meaningless movements which fail to steal the ball from him.

He's almost _bored_ with this game, it's so easy.

When Black Star had appeared at his door that morning, gym-clothed Tsubaki and a big orange basketball in tow, he hadn't expected it go down like this.

At first they'd played Soul and Maka versus Tsubaki and Black*Star, as they usually did. When an argument had broken out between Black Star and Maka after he'd taunted her about being rubbish at basketball one too many times, a fifty dollar bet had been placed.

 _Girls_ versus _guys_.

Simple enough, one supposes. Given Maka's athleticism and Tsubaki's height, it shouldn't have been too uneven of a split- but Soul and Black Star didn't spend at least four hours of free time sparring on the basketball court just for _nothing_.

The pair run circles around their female partners, Black Star emitting all sorts of strange chuckles and 'YAHOO's' as he dunks shot after shot straight into the basket with a satisfying swish. Soul's a good shooter, but he's not stupid, he knows that Black Star's better off with the glory and he's better off doing the hard grafting. Tackles, moves, passes.

Things only get more interesting when Patty, Liz and Kid show up after Tsubaki sends Liz a text letting them know where their friends are.

At first, Kid wants to keep the female vs male dynamic- after all, four to three was more symmetrical than two to five- but for the sake of their bet, Maka and Black Star convince him to join Maka's team with Liz and Patty in tow.

Admittedly, it had made the challenge a little more difficult. Soul and Black Star could beat any of the players on their own, but having five players tackling and dodging and passing and shooting around them? It was a different ball game, literally.

Soul figures out pretty sharpish that the key to out-tackling Patty or Liz is to keep on your toes and keep moving, either round in circles or just bouncing the ball wherever you can to keep it from them. They didn't take the game too seriously, and so wouldn't expend much effort to beat him.

Kid's a little more formidable; he jumps high and moves fast, but ultimately- he just wasn't as coordinated when he had the ball in his hands. He often forgot to dribble and ended up getting penalties for silly things like forgetting the rules or accidentally passing to the wrong team.

"Soul, if you aren't going to pass, then SHOOT!" Black Star screams, waving his hands to and fro on the opposite end of the court, begging Soul to make a move. His counterpart is biding his time, slowly and deliberately acting with a bored expression on his face.

Kid moves in quick and swipes the ball from Soul, almost too easily.

All part of the plan.

If only battles were as easy as basketball.

Almost immediately, Kid gets overexcited about having made an excellent tackle, and heads off running, ball clutched between his fingers.

"I got it, I got it!" he exclaims, lifting his arms in the air, about to toss the ball to Tsubaki who is standing patiently by the hoop, ready to score. Except, her expression indicates that she's not ready at all; her hands on her hips and her face sympathetic. "Wait, why is everybody looking at me like that?"

"Aaand, that's travelling." Soul walks up to Kid and plucks the ball straight out of his hands, to his immense despair.

Maka's palm flies into her face.

"Just concentrate on bouncing the ball, please, Kid!" she reprimands him, but remembers to do so politely. After all, he was still her boss. "Oh, screw it. Kid, you can be shooter." She storms up to the side of the pitch and faces her partner who stands arrogantly, spinning the basketball on one finger.

"Let's do this. Next point wins!" She says fiercely. "Time!"

He bounces around her, using the same movement tactics that he used on Liz and Patty. He's impressed when it seems it appears that she's actually a learnt a thing or two from their basketball sessions, because she's keeping up to his pace impressively.

"Star!" he shouts as his blue-haired teammate flies up seemingly out of nowhere and into the sky, catching the ball tossed his way immediately and pivoting round to face the hoop. He squints, the sun blocking his vision, and Tsubaki takes her chance to go in there, plucks the ball straight from his hands with a giggle.

"Sorry," she says good-naturedly

"Patty!" Maka shouts, signalling for Tsubaki to pass to the younger Thompson sibling. When Patty catches the ball, which is nothing short of a miracle, Maka shouts again. "To Liz!"

The ball sails across the air to her sister, despite Black Star's best efforts, who plucks it out the air and whips her body round to pass to Kid, who can score the point for them and win the match. Soul looks on with horror, running towards Kid to intercept the ball from him before he can make the shot-

 _"_ What the hell...?" he utters.

And crap, Kid's too far away from him to approach. Stupidly, Black Star had run to the same end of the pitch as he had at the beginning of Maka's little game, and now there was nobody to defend up the opposite end.

And he's right by the goal as well. Kid would have to be an idiot to miss that shot.

In a split second, Kid bounces the ball twice in unison, his perfectly symmetrical hands executing a perfectly symmetrical bounce, before he reaches up to make the shot- before-

Soul starts to laugh, a deep and throaty chuckle causing him to throw his head back. It's unexpected to say the least, and causes the other players to break from their game faces to stare him down in surprise.

"What on earth are you laughing at?" Tsubaki wonders, her brow knitting together. In a split second, Black Star twigs, and he too starts laughing, hard and fast, clutching his stomach and howling.

"What the hell?" Liz echoes.

Maka catches on too, to her credit. Her eyes close and her face burns with humiliation.

"And _that's_ a double dribble." Soul grins sharkily through his chuckles.

"What does that mean?" Kid squints and frowns, frozen in place with the ball in both hands. "What's that?" he turns to Maka, who answers him.

"It means, when you bounce the ball, you can't do it with both hands. You have to do it with one at a time. Soul and Black Star have a free shot." She groans and for the second time that game, Soul plucks the ball from his friend and boss.

"But- that would be _asymmetrical_!"

"Sorry, man. The rules are the rules." He lifts his arms up and makes the shot before Black Star can pester him for the ball again. It sails through the air to the very opposite side of the court and makes an enjoyable _wuft_ noise through the white netting.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The noise that comes from Black Star threatens to plague them all with tinnitus for the rest of their lives.

Soul and Black Star do their childish fist-bump thing as Maka chides her teammate. Well, the entire team chides their teammate.

"Kid, you had one job!" she groans. "Learn the damn rules of basketball!" she bemoans.

His hands fly up defensively.

"I'm not responsible for this stupid, asymmetrical garbage game! Whoever thought up the rules to this needs a death-cannon to the face!" he snarls as Liz and Patty come up behind him, putting their respective hands on his shoulders to cool him down.

"Oh, calm down, both of you." Liz rolls her eyes. "It's just a silly game. We put up a good fight- those two are just too good for us." She pauses. "Besides, we'll pay the hundred bucks, no problem."

Maka's scowl deepens.

"I don't care about the money!" she cries, gnashing her teeth together in dramatized anguish. "Soul and Black Star are _never, ever_ going to _shut up about this!"_


End file.
